Chapter 14

The Call

Summer slammed the door to Seth's bedroom behind her and took her cell phone out of the pocket of her discarded jeans. She dialled a fairly unfamiliar number into the phone, but one she was required to memorise by obligation.

Summer heard five rings before the phone was finally answered.

"Hello," a slow drawling voice answered. Summer bit back on her anger.

"Hey Mom, it's me, Summer. Your daughter?"

"Sweetie, don't be silly. Of course I know you're my daughter," Eva laughed. Summer bristled at the sound.

"Hmm, yeah, maybe by DNA, but certainly not by love," Summer said. Her voice was calm, but in her head she was screaming and smashing things against walls.

"Summer, what's wrong? I don't quite follow."

"You don't follow? No, you never did. You always were a leader of the pack weren't you? Always coming up with your own quirky ways to do things, like leave a child, destroy a marriage…"

"Summer, what are you talking about?"

"Why don't you tell me about the letter?"

There was a silence on the other side of the line. "The… the letter?" Eva said finally.

"Yeah Mom, the letter. Do you want me to ask again?"

"Summer I… I don't know what you're talking about! Now, have you been drinking sweetie, celebrating your last few months of freedom?"

"I'm not free Mom, I'm still married."

"What? You're still…married? To Stanley?"

"To Seth! His name is Seth and I love him. And you tried to ruin our marriage! Why Mom? Why would you do that to me?"

"Its not that simple," Eva said. Summer gasped with shock and pain.

"You mean, you did send it?"

"Well you already knew didn't you? Why act so shocked now?"

Summer closed her eyes. Seth opened the door and saw her knees give out. He ran for her and held her. Seth took the phone off her and held it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Seth?" the voice on the other end said. "You're there?"

"Eva?" he asked, his eyes narrowed as he led Summer to the bed where she sat down gratefully.

"Put my daughter on now please," Eva said. "We have something to discuss."

Seth looked at Summer who shook her head desperately, her eyes were pleading.

"I'm sorry, but I think as far as Summer is concerned, you have nothing to discuss." He pressed the 'end call' button.

"I'm so sorry," Summer sobbed. "She admitted it. She said it's not that simple, like that's got anything to do with what she did. That awful thing."

Seth put his arm around Summer and let her cry into his shoulder. "It's not your fault," he said.

"She's my mother. If… if you had married anyone but me you…"

"Would have spent the rest of my life being miserable anyway. You can't control what your parents do Summer. I mean, I am the son of Sandy Cohen. I, more than anyone, know that."

Summer giggled despite herself. "How do you do that?" she asked.

"What?"

"Make me smile, despite all of this… this crap?"

"What can I say, it's a gift. Truly."

Summer smiled up at him. "I don't get how she sent it," she said softly.

"Well, it takes a sick mind to do something like that, but she has a sick mind so…"

"No, assface," Summer laughed, "I mean how did she know where to send it?"

"I don't know, hired a Private Investigator?"

"Seems like a lot of effort just to destroy her daughter's happiness," Summer sighed.

"Well, maybe when she said, 'its not that simple' she wasn't being melodramatic, she was being truthful, you know, in a melodramatic way," Seth shrugged.

"Are you trying to defend that bitch?" Summer asked.

"What? No. I couldn't possibly defend her. She almost ruined our life, but maybe there is something else to this. Maybe you should speak to her."

Summer sighed. "Maybe, but not now okay, I need to be with you right now – no interruptions okay?"

"That's fine with me," Seth replied, kissing her temple. Summer hugged into Seth and held on tight.


"She knows," Eva stated simply. Her companion leaned over the table at the plush sea view restaurant they were meeting in and frowned.

"Knows what?"

"About the letter. She knows I sent it."

"How?"

"That stupid Seth fellow. That's who she was with last night."

"What?"

"Good heavens! Must you continually use questions when you're talking to me? Its always completely one-sided."

"Look, I didn't come here for idle chit chat. You told me you had some big news that seriously hindered our plans. What is it?"

"What is it?" Eva asked, disbelief etched on her face. "That was it! Its fairly big news don't you think? It affects everything."

"Not necessarily. It's unfortunate, but not unfixable. We just have to come up with something else."

"Okay, what?"

"Well, they don't call me the brains for nothing," Eva's companion said with a cocky grin. "I'll come up with something."

"Oh my God! I didn't tell you – she's still married!"

"I know. Don't worry about that. Its already taken care off. The divorce papers are on their way back to their lawyers. They'll be divorced by next week. I tweaked things a little so everything would be speedier. We don't need unnecessary time being wasted."

"How, how did you do that? I can't believe they signed them. They still love each other," Eva mused.

"since when did I say they had signed them? You ever heard of a little thing called forgery?"

"But… but she'll find out. Her lawyer will ring her asking to confirm."

"Their lawyers are on my payroll. Trust me. There is no way Summer will still be married to Seth by the time she marries Dominic."

Eva blinked. "Um, did you not hear me? I said she's still in love with Seth. Even if they do divorce, Summer will not marry Dominic."

"I'll get my way," the companion said softly. "I always do."


AN: Hey all you beautiful people. OMG - I got some of the BEST REVIEWS EVER! And to Melissa1987, I didn't say you gave me a flame, I said you gave me a semi-flame, and I did sa it was constructive. It really made me think about the story, and in answer to your question in your latest review, Who said Dominic was trying to keep Seth and Summer apart? And even if he is, I'm trying to develop that reason as the story goes on, so he's not just this random third party invented solely for the purpose of conflict.

God, so I'm writing this AN really late because I'm sleeping on the couch again, and the only time I ever have any time to myself is when my cousins who are staying over go to bed, which is actually early, but one sleeps in the study where the computer is so I have to wait until everyone goes to bed to use the laptop. And what do ya know? All of my family are night eagles. Wow, that was a long ramble.

I got such FANTASTIC reviewers that I want to acknowledge, but my laptop isn't loading the grid that has story stats on it. And anyway, I want to do that when I finish this story - which I really wanna do! Not because I don't like it - I LOVE IT! -but I've got an idea for a new story that I want to get started on, but I refuse to because then I'll get sidetracked. So this is the only piece of fiction I am working on right now.

Anyway, will go now because I am having so much fun on this site called Gurl(dot)com, and its got stuff like make your own Prom night, Make your own road trip, paperdoll psychology etc.

Please keep reviewing, it keeps me going.

Leanna :)